It’s a busy, busy week of show preparation in the ol’ studio.  The work for the next Gallery Project exhibition is due Sunday.  Yikes!  Details coming soon to their website.

Also, if you happen to find yourself in the Philly area, you can attend the reception for the 2010 Calendar: MUSEUMS, Krista Peel’s latest venture that features a piece from yours truly.  The calendar would make a great Christmas gift.  Check it out.

My calendar page.  Looks like I’m back to Ms. January!  I can’t believe I have been in these awesome calendars of KP’s since 2004!  What an honor!

I have a show coming up at Gallery Project in Ann Arbor curated by three other artists, one of whom is my good friend and colleague at EMU, Jennifer Locke.  The show is called The Spring 2010 Collection (aka Fashion Show), and thus all of the work is about issues surrounding fashion, from a more cynical look at consumer culture, to a positive look at DIY and preloved movements.  The work in my series The Beautiful Ones, falls somewhere in between these two areas.  In 2007, I made a painting that had t-shirts that people could purchase and wear–something affordable to take away from the gallery-going experience–which was akin to being able to purchase band merch at a rock show.  In short, my painting could have groupies.  The goal was to allow people to be in a sort of performative dialog with the work.  The painting is “about” this sort of indie hipster culture, and also propagates it as well.  So, I had originally conceived of making two paintings and up until recently, just had the one.  This show was the perfect opportunity to realize the other.  They are both based on small drawings I did in France in 2007.  Below are some images of the piece in progress.  Progress continues.

Here are two images of the t-shirt designs (printed by VGKids), one or both of which will be sewn into the surface of the painting.  They are printed on American Apparel Classic Girl and Standard American styles in the color natural and made from organic cotton.  I have sizes ranging from small to XL in both unisex and women’s shirts.  If you’re interested in a shirt, just email me with your size, style, and design preference.  They cost $15, but there’s a free shirt for anyone who is willing to come to the opening sporting the shirt and who stays for at least a half hour.  Let me know (by commenting on this post) if you want to participate, so that I can get you a shirt before the show.  I have already hired a bunch of my students, so it should be a lot of fun!

Here’s the info for the show.

What: The 2010 Collection (Fashion Show)

Where:  Gallery Project, 215 South Fourth Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

When: Opening Friday December 11, 2009, 6-9 p.m. Show runs from Dec 9 – Jan 11.

Gallery hours are:

Fall/Winter hours:

Tue -Thu, noon-6

Fri -Saturday, noon-9

Sun, noon to 4

I have been particularly struck by the work of two artists of late.  Mark Dion and Mike McFalls.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a lecture by artist Mark Dion at Cranbrook.  First of all, his talk was riveting.  He speaks in such a narrative, engaging manner, that when he was finished, I just wanted him to keep talking.  Luckily he answered some questions at the end of the lecture.

This piece showcases objects excavated during his project the Tate Thames Dig.  It is a double-sided cabinet that houses the objects such as wine bottle necks, toys, and cell phones in a particular manner according to color, type, and other commonalities.

He spoke about a lot of ideas that have been bouncing around in my head lately.  Among which are curiosity cabinets, alchemy, the surrealists and their influences, and fictionalized truths.  All of this wraps into my AE work and the way that I eventually want to present it.

My brother came across the work of Mike McFalls at the art gallery in the new art complex at Interlochen Center for the Arts in northern Michigan, where I used to teach.  When I recently asked people for suggestions of artists using model train sets in their work, for a post, Joe suggested Mike’s work.  Coincidentally, two of my colleagues at EMU recently curated some of his work into the Contemporary Sculpture exhibition at EMU’s University Gallery.  I especially loved the work when I saw it in person, so much so, that we bought a piece, and I’m trading him a drawing for another one.  Here are some images of his work.

This piece is similar to the one we’re taking home.  I love finding artists who’s work resonates with my current investigations and passions.  I am itching to get back to island paintings, but for now, I am working on a piece from the Beautiful Ones series for an exhibition at the Gallery Project in December that is similar to this one in approach:

I have purposefully been laying low on the exhibition front lately, as the beginning of the year was beastly with one solo show coming down, two and a half more going up, plus juried and group exhibitions (and school and life), I was wiped!  I am making new work, which I plan to exhibit in solo or small group shows down the road, but it will be a while before that occurs.  For now, I was pleased to receive this image in my inbox today:

of my work (island paintings) in the recent International Artist-in-Residence Exhibition at the Museum of Trade and Tourism in Budapest.  Thank you to Beata for putting the show together and providing the opportunity!

Nannette forbade me from posting her image, but since Mark wants to know who my new friends here  are, here’s her picture (with a giant breast):

Uh oh.  She’s going to kill me tomorrow…

In the photo, we’re at a place called Gödör, which, in Hungarian, means “hole.”  At some point, the city intended to build an amphitheater here, but never finished it, so a private party created a club out of the hole that the city started to dig out and thus resulted the Gödör.  Here are some photos of this popular hang-out spot:

When Mark was still with me for the first couple of days of my time here, we saw our friend Chris play with his friend’s band inside.

Getting back to tonight, at this point in the evening, we had been to a couple of openings, and decided to indulge in some decadent drinks, so we ended up at (rats I don’t remember the name of it!) some lovely bar.  Here we met friends, and got drinks that looked like this:

a rose-tini

an extra dirty martini (I've never seen this much care put into drinks before!)

You can see our bartender just behind my martini glass.  Just in case you think I’m spending all of my time here partying, here is an image of some work I did today.  I finished (I think) two smallish- to mid-sized island paintings:

I keep forgetting my camera when I go out.  Last night was no exception.  We went to an opening, then to a bar called Instant followed by a theater performance–an English/Hunagrian retelling of Hamlet (in 45 minutes).  I borrowed this photo of Instant from flickr:

the sweet fish sculpture in one of Instant's myriad rooms- the ceiling opens and closes, naturally

Nannette took me to the “tooth museum” a little room dedicated to teeth, but alas someone had broken in and most of the teeth were missing.  I don’t remember my dreams from last night, but I am sure they were about losing my teeth…  Mark has been requesting photos of the people I have met here so that he knows who the heck I am talking about when I describe my adventures.  One day soon, I will remember to bring my camera along.

In other news, I have set up a space in the apartment to do some oil painting.  Again with the islands.  I have big plans for these… I’ll see how that goes, as sometimes Art has it’s own plans.

stu-stu-studio

…it looks like a am painting in quarantine because of all of the plastic.  I also wear a hasmet suit.

Though I have been inside making work for the better part of this week, we do get out to play from time to time.  Last night we attended an opening near the Basilica.

The skies were ominous and we ducked inside a cafe just time time to escape the rain.  Some new friends were not so fortunate and came in completely soaked.